OLYMPIA, WA (June 19, 2008) – All charges against photojournalist Tony Overman were dropped when the photographer appeared in court in nearby Lacey, WA, today to face a police accusation of simple assault and obstruction.
"Common sense ruled," Overman said after the court appearance. "Even if everything this officer claimed in his report happened, there was no assault, there was no obstruction."
Papers filed by the Lacey prosecutor Joseph M. Svoboda today said "the city believes it has probable cause to cite, but it may not be able to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt." Therefore the two misdemeanor charges against Overman were dismissed "without prejudice."
Overman was cited by Lacey police on June 6 at a fatal fire scene and charged with simple assault and obstruction after a plainclothes detective claimed overman struck him and then resisted arrest.
Overman said he was photographing the general fire scene when he saw a uniformed Lacey police sergeant walk up to a woman from the neighborhood and tell her to leave the scene. Police were putting up tape at the time to cordon off the area. Overman says the sergeant then called him over and told him to go outside the police tape, which he did immediately.
As Overman was walking away he heard plainclothes police detective David Miller tell the another policemen, "If he crosses that line again, arrest him immediately."
Overman, who says he had never crossed a line or gone over the police tape to begin with, turned and asked the detective, "What did you say?" Overman said at that point detective Miller was inside the tape, and that he was outside of the tape. The photographer says that Miller said, "If you come back inside the rope again you'll be arrested immediately."
Overman then said to Miller, "They asked me to leave, and I left. So why are you threatening me with arrest?" The photographer says that Miller got up "in his face" and that their noses were nearly touching as Miller screamed at him, "I'm a police officer. When I tell you to do something, you do it."
Overman said the detective's face was right up against his face, literally nose to nose, when the photographer said "Can I ask your name?" At that point their noses slightly touched, Overman says.
Miller then stepped back, then stepped forward and slammed Overman fully in the chest with two hands, knocking the photographer backwards, Overman says. Then Miller came under the tape and as Overman went down the photographer's back turned to the officer as Overman tried to land on his knees in the grass. Overman says Miller grabbed his arm, pulled it behind his back, and yelled to other police, "Arrest him! He hit me!"
Police handcuffed Overman and were then trying to figure out how to remove his digital cameras from his shoulders by unhooking the straps. Overman told them they didn't have to take the straps off, they could just take off one handcuff and remove the cameras.
Police released one handcuff and were taking the cameras off Overman's shoulder when he turned his head to ask the Lacey police sergeant, "Didn't I do everything you asked me to do?" Overman says that's when detective Miller "cranked my right arm up behind my back, tightened the cuffs, and yelled at me to 'stop resisting.'" That's when Overman's right wrist was injured, he says.
The photojournalist was held in the back of a police car for about 30 minutes before he was released.
Overman, an 11-year veteran of The Olympian and the immediate past president of the National Press Photographers Association, is a respected and experienced photojournalist and a a two-time Regional Photographer of the Year. In December 2007 he testified before a Congressional Committee on Natural Resources on Capitol Hill about proposed new park rules governing photography as they relate to press freedoms, and in 2006 he was embedded with troops from Washington state who were stationed in Baghdad and Mosul in the war in Iraq.
